PREVENTION. A group of people go to the COVID-19 testing center outside the Miami Beach Convention Center. | Photo: Efe / Ivonne Malaver.
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At least four of Florida’s largest school districts have announced that they will maintain or issue new mask-wearing orders due to the state’s COVID-19 outbreak; in defiance of the threat of Governor Ron DeSantis, who warned with withholding funds to the institutions if the mandates apply.
The context: The Florida governor issued an executive order last Friday in which he assured that the new CDC recommendations on the use of masks in class are, in his opinion, lacking scientific justification. He also assured that they will withhold funds from institutions that require masks.
- The resistance in state schools comes as the United States registers a wave of cases and hospitalizations of the delta variant of the coronavirus.
- There is currently a debate at the national level about what measures should be applied for children, in particular those under 12 years of age who are not eligible for vaccination.
- The schools will teach face-to-face classes again in August, which is why they are seeking to define the strategy to be followed in Florida.
What do they say? “At this time, the facial coverage policy, which requires the use of masks in the District’s schools and facilities, remains in effect,” read a statement from Broward County Public Schools, Florida’s second-largest district. and the sixth largest in the country.
- On Monday the school district had revoked the requirement to wear masks, when it said it wanted to comply with the governor’s order.
- However, the District is now setting another position by saying that it will await “further guidance before making a decision on the mask mandate for next school year.”
Main source of the news: The Washington Post.
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